Injury (20 page)

Chapter 37

Dani holds her father’s
hand, reluctant to release it. Their time together has been so precious, and
now he says she has to leave.

“But I just got here.”
It comes out a wail. This place has been a comfortable haven, and she wants to
stay.

“We’ll be together
again, I promise. But it’s not your time.”

“Just a little longer,
Daddy. I don’t want to leave you.”

“It’ll be okay. You
have to go, but I’ll be with you. I’ve always been nearby, pumpkin.”

Dani smiles at his use
of the childhood endearment. “I love you so much, Daddy.”

Paul Grayson hugs his
daughter and kisses her cheeks. “I love you, too. Remember, I’m not really
gone.”

“Daddy, wait.”

Another voice, not her father’s, cuts through the
disappointment and longing. She’d heard it sometimes even while she was with
her dad. The voice, familiar, reassuring, guided Dani to wakefulness, and
excitement and relief surged through her when she recognized Cope.

He was reading.

Dani listened for a moment, not wanting to interrupt him,
until she realized she didn’t know where she was, and the last thing she
remembered was … Oh, God. Greg. She opened her eyes.

Gaze absorbed in the book, a novel, Cope didn’t notice
Dani’s eyes were open and continued to read aloud. “Carolyn found herself
crying again and swiped the tears off her face. The prospect of morning and
what that would bring scared her—”

“Cope?”

The book fell to the floor when he leapt up and buzzed the
nurse. “Dani. Thank God. How do you feel?”

“Hungry. Sore. What happened? How did I get here? Where’s
Greg?”

Cope took her hand and leaned close, examining her face.
“I’ll tell you everything, but wait until after the nurse gets here and checks
you out.”

Dani yawned and stretched as the nurse entered the room,
smiling. “Welcome back, Miss Grayson. How are you feeling?”

“Like I could eat my arm.”

“I’ll get the doctor and then find you some food,” she said
and checked Dani’s vitals.

When the nurse left, Cope perched on the edge of the bed and
leaned in to kiss her lips. “I’ve been wanting to give those lips a proper kiss
for days.”

“I’m so glad to see you, Robert.”

Cope smiled and kissed her again. “God, Dani, I was so
afraid I’d lose you.”

“You came for me.”

“Of course. I’d never leave you with that bastard. He almost
killed you.”

“How did you find me?”

Cope told her how they’d cracked into Henderson’s accounts
and found the cabin. “It was a long shot, but it made sense he’d take you
somewhere off the radar. Henderson had bought the place under another name. I
don’t know how—something for the courts to figure out, I guess. When we
arrived, he was so out of it, I walked in and took you away. He’s locked up now
and won’t bother you again.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “Robert, before all this
happened, I avoided you. While I was with Greg, I promised myself that if I saw
you again, I’d tell you the truth. I never wanted to hurt you. It tore me apart
to be away from you. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I understand what happened. My mother and I
talked.”

“Margaret, she—”

“
Shh
. It’s okay. Everything’s
okay. We’ll be all right now. You’re back.”

***

The car left the highway, and when Dani realized where they
headed, she smiled and glanced at Cope.

He grinned back at her. “I wanted to take you someplace
special for your first full day back on your feet. Since you return to work
tomorrow and spent the last two weeks cooped up, today will be outside and all
about you.”

“Thank you. Beautiful day for it, too. No clouds and
sunshine.”

When they reached the spot overlooking the ocean where Cope
parked the car, Dani was surprised to see other cars. She frowned. Had other
people discovered their secret spot? She hoped it wasn’t reporters. Wasn’t this
beach on private property?

Cope said nothing, but parked the car and helped her out. He
guided her to the trail.

Dani stopped walking. “What about the basket? I thought we
were coming here for a picnic?”

Cope arched his brows, gave her a sly smile, and then
scooped her up and carried her down the path.

Half delighted and half fearing he’d drop her, Dani threw
her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, giggling. As he
set her back on her feet, there was a smattering of applause, and she looked up
to find everyone she knew gathered together on the sand. Patio tables, each
with its own umbrella. Flowers. Lights, accenting the place settings clustered
around a pedestal fire pit. The beach had been set up for a celebration.

Dani’s gaze met Liz’s, then went to John, who was with his
wife and kids. Cope’s family was there, including his mother, who smiled at
Dani, and then looked away. Margaret’s apology to Dani, given two days before,
had appeared genuine, and Dani forgave her, but the tension between them
remained. The executives from Star Power and Danger Play were there, including
Nate, and the
Injury
cast and crew.

Cope led Dani to two empty seats at the head of the group of
tables and motioned for her and everyone else to sit.

Nervous, she sank into the chair, wondering what he was up
to now.

Cope looked into the crowd, back to Dani, and then again
turned to the group. He took a deep breath and spoke. “Thank you for coming
here to celebrate Dani’s recovery with us. It’s been a challenging time, and we
appreciate everything you’ve done for us.”

He faced Dani again. “When you disappeared, I was terrified
I’d lost you forever. The thought of enduring each day without you turned every
moment into darkness. You’re the light that keeps me going. Being with you
gives my life more joy and meaning than I’ve ever known.” Cope reached into his
pocket, pulled out a diamond ring, and kneeled before her. “Dani, will you
marry me?”

Tears filled her eyes, and Dani could at first only nod.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
She gasped as Cope
slipped the ring, an elegant white and yellow gold solitaire, onto her finger.
After a tear-filled pause, she inhaled, settling her emotions, and shouted so
everyone could hear. “Yes!”

Cheers and shouts of congratulations filled the air.

Dani inhaled and drew in the scent of the sea, the flowers
and candles, and the aroma of something meaty wafting up from barbeques along
the cliff face.

Astounded and touched, she contemplated the work that must
have gone into putting this together. Dani launched herself into Cope’s arms.

He caught her, hugged her, and they kissed. When he released
her, Dani whispered in his ear. “I can’t believe you did this. You’re amazing.”

“I love you, Daniella.”

“I love you, too, Robert.”

As the night wore on, and the stars appeared in the sky,
Dani and Cope stepped away from the celebrating and walked along the beach.
Feet bare, Dani picked her way through the surf, shivering in the brisk water.
Cope’s grip on her hand reassured her. No matter what, she could depend on him.
He wouldn’t leave her.

Dani recalled the years she’d spent seeking publicity and
hoping her father would find her. Even if only in a dream, she’d seen him at
last, and, if not a dream, then perhaps he’d been there all along. Maybe, he’d
be with her always as he’d promised.

Now, Cope had made the same promise to her.

Dani hugged him. “I’m whole again, and it’s because you came
into my life. Daniella Grayson always needed to be in the spotlight. Daniella
Copeland will want something different. After I fulfill my studio contract, I
don’t want to do another movie. What do you think?”

“Wherever you want to go from here, or whatever you want to
do, I’ll support you.”

He kissed her again, and she considered the possibilities: a
more active role at Star Power and more time with the children coming to the
charity. Those things made her heart soar. She and Cope would have children,
and she’d make sure they grew up in a loving family home. They’d have Cope’s
sister and brothers as aunt and uncles. Dani’s heart overflowed at the prospect
of giving a baby the love-filled childhood she’d never had.

Cope held an arm around her, and she snuggled into him. They
stood, facing the ocean, and watched the waves roll in to shore.

The End

Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won’t
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Sample Chapter:
The Experiencers

The Valiant Chronicles: Book I

Michael “Mick” Valiant checked his watch and realized he was
going to finish work early. The upside was he’d be home for dinner; the
downside was he’d be home for dinner. He cringed. The thought of going home
reminded him he might be getting separated soon, perhaps even the next time he
was home long enough to see his wife before she went to bed. Jessica had
something on her mind lately, and he suspected it was divorce.

He pulled his thoughts away from his marriage and refocused
on the job. Michael sat behind the driver’s seat in the back of a white van
displaying a cable company logo on the side. The video monitor before him
showed the inside of the sprawling brick bungalow across the street. His
target, Patty Richards, was inside the house.

Aside from the stats he needed for the job, Michael knew
little about Richards. He knew her only as a threat to the Extraterrestrial
Alliance Project, or ETAP, as those involved referred to it, and any threat to
the Project had to go.

Michael glanced over at his partner, Gerry “Torque” Muniz,
who sat next to Michael, also staring at the monitor. Judging from the vacant
look in Torque’s eyes, he wasn’t seeing what was there. Sweat beaded on
Torque’s broad forehead. Hair around his bald spot spiked up, reminding Michael
of a porcupine with tiny black and grey quills.

“Why don’t you take off that jacket?” Michael asked. “You’re
drenched.”

Torque shook his head, eyes still unfocused. He continued to
sit and stare, brows furrowed. Finally, he spoke. “I hate leaving them alive.”

He meant Ralph Drummond. They’d forced him into a mental
institution to silence him. It hadn’t been their typical job. As if they hadn’t
had this conversation numerous times since they’d been handed Drummond’s
dossier, Michael said, “Then why did we?”

“Have you looked at the rest of the targets?”

This was new. In previous conversations, at this point,
Torque would say, “I don’t know,” to which Michael would reply, “Then why worry
about it?”

Michael did a job, following orders precisely, and then
forgot about it. It helped him maintain his detachment and his sanity. The
Drummond job had been no exception though his initial gut reaction to it had
been different.

When he’d first read the file on Drummond, he’d felt uneasy,
like something was off. But he’d ignored it and carried on. With Torque’s
reminder of Drummond and his file, the uneasiness returned. He looked at
Torque. “I’ve read the list.”

“No,” Torque said. “Have you looked at the list in detail?”

“What’s your point?”

“I figured out why we didn’t kill him, and why the other two
won’t be killed either.”

“Okay,” Michael said. “Why?”

“They’re abductees, and killing them would interfere with
the experiments.”

“Where did it say that?”

“It didn’t. Not explicitly. They’re all members of the same
UFO group, except this next target. The ones we can’t terminate are flagged as
‘catch and release.’ The aliens want them for their experiments. We have to get
creative if we want to silence them. Drummond goes to the mental hospital; the
other two are disappeared to the Agency.”

“Why didn’t I see that?”

“You wouldn’t have noticed if you weren’t looking for it.”

“Carolyn Fairchild and Arnie
Griffen
.
I saw they weren’t to be terminated.”

Michael didn’t have the other files, but he picked up the
Richards file and opened it. Torque was right. Nothing in the file indicated
she belonged to the same UFO group as the others. In fact, she wasn’t a member
of any UFO group. He saw on her schedule that tonight she was due to attend a
concert at her daughter’s school. Michael felt a twinge. She’d be dead by then.

A note in the file stated Richards was Drummond’s associate,
maintained a blog, and travelled around North America doing speaking
engagements. “What’s the blog about?” he asked.

Torque shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

Michael nodded, understanding. He removed his weapon from a
pouch at his side and marvelled, not for the first time, at how something so
small could be so deadly. The size and shape of a penlight or laser pointer,
the weapon discharged a microwave beam that could penetrate walls and kill a
person from over twenty metres away. Soon, when he deemed the time right,
Richards’s heart would stop, and the coroner would list it as “natural causes.”

In no hurry, he waited and watched. He ran his hand through
his hair, an absent-minded gesture he’d repeat often when he was waiting to
kill. He glanced at Torque, expecting a remark. Torque was back to staring
vacantly at the screen and hadn’t noticed.

Michael looked up when he heard the door to the house open.
Two teenagers stepped onto the porch. Their light and jovial voices carried
through the open windows of the van. The girl was Patty’s daughter, Michelle.
The male would be Ian, the daughter’s boyfriend.

Ian said something too low for Michael to make out. It must
have been funny because the girl burst out laughing. The hearty laugh jarred
Torque out of his stupor, and he looked up from the monitor at Michael.

Michael continued to wait. The two teens scampered down the
porch steps and jumped into a black Volkswagen Jetta parked in the driveway.
Sleek and shiny, the car couldn’t have been more than a few months old. Had to
be the kid’s father’s car. But perhaps not. Kids these days were spoiled. The
car could very well be his.

Michael glanced at the clock on the dashboard and waited for
the kids to pull out of the driveway. He’d have an hour before the husband
returned. That would be plenty of time. Most of the neighbours were also at
work.

The Jetta eased onto the road, the back end swinging past
the van. Michael glimpsed Ian’s face as the kid straightened the wheel and then
accelerated the car down the street. Neither kid spared the van a glance.

Michael checked the monitor and changed the view to the
kitchen. From his periphery, he saw Torque turn back to the monitor.

Richards, her long hair tied back in a ponytail, stood in
front of the kitchen island, stirring something in a bowl. She resembled her
daughter. It would be easy to mistake them for sisters even though Patty was
more than twice her daughter’s age.

Michael realized he was holding his breath and exhaled.
Sweat trickled down his back, and he checked the thermometer: twenty-two
Celsius. Hot, for the end of April in Southern Ontario, but not hot enough to
make them roll up the windows and turn on the air conditioning. Fortunately,
there was a breeze and only slight humidity.

He started to lift the weapon, but paused. His hand drifted
back to rest on his thigh. This looked wrong. It felt wrong. But he had the
right target. All the information he had
bore
that
out, the clincher being the carefully installed surveillance equipment the
grunts from the Agency had placed inside the house. Michael felt another
twinge. This reminded him of the Drummond job—like someone had made a mistake
and he was silencing the wrong person.

“What are you waiting for?” Torque’s voice startled Michael,
but he didn’t flinch. He cleared his head and focused.

Michael lifted his weapon and pointed the business end of it
in the direction that put the Richards woman in its path. He clicked a button
and locked it into place, keeping the weapon on and trained at her. On the
monitor, he saw Richards sway. She turned off the mixer, but before she could
set it down, she collapsed, dragging bowl and mixer down with her.

The bowl shattered when it hit the floor. Batter and glass
sprayed everywhere. The mixer plug yanked free of the outlet, the cord snaking
down on top of her.

Michael waited.

She jittered and thrashed. Then she was still.

He waited.

She didn’t move.

Michael took his cell phone from his jacket, which hung on
the back of the passenger seat behind him, and speed-dialled Jim Cornell, his
boss. He heard a click, and Cornell’s voicemail kicked in. When the beep
sounded, Michael cleared his throat and spoke. “Hi, Jim. Valiant here. We’re
done at the job site and on our way back.” He ended the call and returned the
phone to his jacket.

A glance at the monitor verified Richards was still
motionless. Michael stuck the weapon back into the pouch at his side. Mindful
of the low ceiling, he climbed into the driver’s seat. He started the van,
anxious to leave, but waited while Torque shut down the equipment and climbed
into the passenger seat.

When they reached the south end of Richmond Hill, Michael’s
cell phone rang. He punched the speaker button. “Valiant here.”

“Yeah, Mick. It’s Jim. I got your message. Good job.”

“I’ve
gotta
ask, Jim: what did
these people do? They don’t seem like our typical targets.”

“You can ask, Mick, but trust me, they’re a threat. And this
isn’t something we discuss over a cell phone.”

“Right.” He hung up the phone, but his doubts continued.

“I wouldn’t question Cornell if I were you,” said Torque.
“If you want to ask someone anything, ask me. If I don’t know the answer, it’s
because we’re not supposed to know. Are we clear?”

Michael nodded, keeping his eyes on the road. Torque was
right. But he persisted. “Don’t you think it’s odd, though, that we’re
targeting housewives now?”

“Maybe they aren’t just housewives. It’s not our job to
verify that the targets are correct. What’s up with you? I’ve never known you
to question an assignment.”

“This feels different.”

Torque stared at him, one eyebrow raised, his lips pursed.
“You going all new-
agey
on me? Have you been spending
too much time on Carolyn Fairchild’s file?”

Carolyn Fairchild, one of their catch-and-release targets,
was a psychic medium running a holistic practice from her home. Michael
laughed, shaking his head. “Thanks for that. I needed a good chuckle.”

“Let it go, Mick. Don’t worry about if they’ve been properly
vetted. You can be sure they have. Whoever the Agency targets, they no doubt
earned the recognition.”

Michael didn’t reply. He exhaled, releasing tension. These
were career-limiting thoughts. He needed to get over them, or risk, at the
least, his career, at the most, his life and perhaps even Jessie’s life.

Two hours later, Michael pulled the van into a reserved spot
in a parking garage in downtown Toronto. Torque looked around the van. “Don’t
forget your jacket.”

Michael nodded, retrieved his jacket, and picked up his
files. He locked the van and walked around to where Torque waited. Torque
already had his ID badge clipped to his lapel. Michael pulled his own badge out
of his pocket and pinned it on.

“Have time for a drink after we report to Cornell?” Michael
asked.

“Still avoiding the home front?”

“I guess. I have to make it up to her, but I don’t know
how.” Even as he said it, Michael knew he wouldn’t have that drink with Torque,
he wouldn’t be home for dinner, and he wouldn’t let it drop. He’d hole up in
his office and do a little digging on that UFO group.

Michael mentally reviewed the list of remaining targets:
John and Carolyn Fairchild, Shelly and Steven Rudolph, and Arnold
Griffen
. But first, he would find out why Ralph Drummond
and Patty Richards were considered such threats they’d had to be silenced
immediately.

###